1980s Simpliports with Water Columns to be upgraded on HRSGs at a refinery in Argentina

It's a #blastfromthepast Tuesday! A refinery in Argentina has four Simpliports with water columns on their HRSGs — running at 150 and 800 PSI — that they're looking to upgrade. Fun fact: these original units date back to the 1980s.

We'll be upgrading these units to our Simpliport® 180 Bi-Color Ported Water Gages. Stay tuned for future updates on this project.

Four Decades of Service — And Why It's Time to Upgrade

An installation running since the 1980s says a lot about the durability of well-maintained boiler trim equipment — these original Simpliports have been in service for roughly four decades. But equipment reaching the end of a multi-decade service life isn't a failure story; it's an expected milestone, and exactly the point at which a facility should be planning a proactive upgrade rather than waiting for a failure to force the issue.

Two Different Pressure Applications, One HRSG

This refinery's HRSGs run water columns at two different pressure levels — 150 PSI and 800 PSI — which reflects the multi-drum reality of many HRSG installations. Heat Recovery Steam Generators often have separate drums operating at different pressures (commonly referred to as HP, IP, and LP sections) as steam is generated at progressively lower pressures using residual heat further along the duct path. Each of these drums needs its own properly rated water column and level indication, which is why a single HRSG upgrade project can involve equipment spanning a wide pressure range.

Why Upgrade to Simpliport 180

Moving from the original 1980s-era Simpliports to the current Simpliport® 180 Bi-Color Ported Water Gage brings this installation up to modern visibility standards: 180-degree wide-angle viewing so operators can read water level clearly from anywhere in that range, and bright LED red/green bi-color indication with a service life of up to 10 years — a significant improvement over the incandescent or halogen lighting technology that would have been standard when the original units were installed decades ago.

Why Refineries Plan Upgrades Like This

Refinery HRSGs are critical, continuously operating equipment, which means instrumentation upgrades need to be planned carefully around maintenance windows rather than done reactively after a failure. Identifying aging equipment — like these four decades-old Simpliports — ahead of time gives a facility the chance to schedule the upgrade on their own timeline, rather than facing an unplanned outage if the original units eventually fail.

Applications

This kind of proactive upgrade is common across:

• Refining: HRSG and process boiler instrumentation reaching end of service life

• Power Generation: Multi-drum HRSG installations with varying pressure ratings

• Any Facility Running Legacy Boiler Trim Equipment: Where decades of service life is a sign it's time to plan an upgrade, not a sign of impending failure

Learn More

Visit relianceboilertrim.com for more information on the Simpliport® 180, or contact Clark-Reliance to discuss planning an upgrade for aging boiler trim equipment at your facility.

📧 sales@clark-reliance.com📞 +1 (440) 572-1500

Related Resources & Products:

• Simpliport 180 Product Page

• Having Trouble Seeing the Water Level in Your Boiler?

• Boiler Surveys & Walkdowns

• Water Columns Explained

• Reliance Case Studies